Ringer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Objective
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Scoring a Ringer
• Legal Plays
  • Number Cards
  • Wild Cards
  • Power Cards
  • Streaks
  • Passing Your Turn
  • Ending Your Turn
• Powers
  • Ask
  • Draw 1
  • Draw 2
  • Take the Turn
  • Reroll the Die
  • Steal 1 Card
  • When Powers Are Not Used
• End of the Game

Contents

Ringer contains 105 cards, 1 die and 5 reference cards.

Objective

Play your cards on the die with the goal of matching the number rolled on the die. If you achieve a match, you get a Ringer, and you take all the cards that have been played on the Play Pile. The player who gathers the most cards wins.

Setup

1. The dealer shuffles the deck and deals 6 cards to each player.
2. Place the remaining cards face down in a Draw Pile within everyone's reach.
3. Roll the die and place it near the Draw Pile.
4. Turn over the first card of the Draw Pile and place it on the die (through the hole), forming the Play Pile.
5. The player to the left of the dealer starts. Play proceeds clockwise.

Note: there are 5 suits of cards: pink, blue, green, yellow and wild. The cards are marked with a letter to indicate their color.

[Setup illustration: blue, yellow, pink and green cards showing their number and color letter, with a wild card.]

How to Play

On your turn, you may play cards one at a time onto the Play Pile. You may play as many cards as you like, as long as each play is legal (see "Legal Plays"). Play cards with the aim of matching the number rolled on the die to achieve a Ringer. Your turn continues until you cannot or do not wish to play any more cards.

[Illustration: the Play Pile (top card 3), a Draw Pile (back of a RINGER card) and a card with a "4".]

Scoring a Ringer

If you play a card on the Play Pile that matches the number on the die, this is called a Ringer! Take all the cards from the Play Pile and keep them face up in front of you as points. Then roll the die and draw the first card from the Draw Pile, show it, and place it on the die to form the next Play Pile.

Note: If the card you show after scoring a Ringer matches the die, that does not count as a Ringer.

Legal Plays

The card you may play depends on the top card of the Play Pile. Note: You may never play more than one card at the same time. Cards must be played one at a time, and their powers must be applied one by one.

[Illustration: the top card of the Play Pile, with examples of cards that can be played on it.]

Never play an identical card, even if its power is different.

[Illustrations: two examples marked as not allowed, where a card identical to the top card (same color and same number) is crossed out.]

Number Cards

Note on the source: the printed heading above the paragraph below reads "Cartas de número" (Number Cards). The paragraph beneath it concerns wild cards and is transcribed as printed under the heading "Wild Cards" below.

[Illustrations: examples of the cards that can be played on a 3 Play Pile card, and of the cards that may not be played.]

Wild Cards

Wild cards work slightly differently from cards of other colors. This means you can play a wild card as a consecutive number of any color, or as a number equal to any color.

Wild cards also work in reverse: you can play any consecutive number on top of a wild card, or any equal number on top of a wild card.

[Illustrations: a wild card as the top card, with the cards that can be played on it; and a wild card on top of the Play Pile played as a consecutive number.]

Note: A wild card cannot be played onto an identical wild card. [Illustration: a wild card 5 marked as not allowed on top of an identical wild card 5.]

Never play a wild card identical to the card before it.

Power Cards

There are power cards in every color, including wild cards. Note: When you play a power card, you MUST use its power, UNLESS you score a Ringer with it. When a Ringer is scored, the pile of cards is considered out of play immediately, so the power has no effect. See the "Powers" section for each power card.

Streaks

If you successfully play all the cards in your hand, immediately draw until you have 6 cards again, and continue your turn.

Passing Your Turn

If you cannot or do not want to play any card during your turn, you may pass. Instead of playing, draw a card from the Draw Pile and end your turn. Note: You may never have more than 10 cards in your hand. If you have 10 cards, you must discard a card from your hand to the bottom of the Draw Pile before drawing a new one.

Ending Your Turn

When you cannot or do not want to play any more cards, your turn ends and passes to the player on your left. After ending your turn, if you have fewer than 6 cards in your hand, draw cards until you have a total of 6.

Powers

Ask

Icon: a question mark. When you play this card, choose a specific player and ask whether they have a particular number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6), or a particular color (pink, blue, green or yellow, but NOT wild). The specified player must choose a card from their hand that matches the number or color you asked for, and give it to you. Add the card they give you to your hand and continue your turn normally.

Note: If the player has more than one card that matches the request, they choose which card to give you.

Draw 1

Icon: a "1" on a card. When you play this card, immediately draw 1 card from the Draw Pile and add it to your hand. Then continue your turn as normal.

Draw 2

Icon: a "2" on a card. When you play this card, immediately draw 2 cards from the Draw Pile and add them to your hand. Then continue your turn as normal.

Note: If drawing these cards takes you over the limit of 10 cards, discard cards to the bottom of the Draw Pile until you have only 10 cards.

Take the Turn

Icon: an exclamation mark. Playing a Take the Turn card is the only occasion in the game on which you may play when it is not your turn. To play this card, you must make a legal play (see "Legal Plays").

Playing a Take the Turn card on the Play Pile immediately ends the current player's turn, and the turn passes to you. Then play your turn as normal. When your turn ends, the player to your left takes the next turn, as always.

Play the Take the Turn card quickly, before the current player continues their turn.

Notes:

• If someone steals your turn with a Take the Turn card, you do NOT draw cards to get back to 6 until it is your turn again.
• If someone steals your turn with a Take the Turn card, you may play another Take the Turn card to steal it back, as long as it is a legal play (see "Legal Plays").
• If it is your turn and you play a Take the Turn card, its power has no effect.
• If it is NOT your turn and you play a Take the Turn card that matches the die on the Play Pile, you do NOT score a Ringer. You cannot steal a Ringer.
• A Take the Turn card cannot be played on a wild Reroll the Die card.

Reroll the Die

Icon: a die. When you play this card, reroll the die immediately and place it in the hole of the Play Pile. Then continue your turn normally.

Note: Reroll the Die cards have no number. They can be played on any card of the same color or on a wild card. Any number of the same color, or a wild card, can also be played on a Reroll the Die card.

Steal 1 Card

Icon: a hand taking a card. When you play this card, choose a player and blindly steal a card from their hand, adding it to your hand. Then continue your turn normally.

Note: If someone steals a card from your hand, you do NOT draw a card to replace it until your turn ends, when you draw cards to get back to 6.

When Powers Are Not Used

• If you play a power card to score a Ringer, you cannot use its power, because the Ringer's pile is considered out of play immediately.
• If it is your turn and you play a Take the Turn card, its power is not activated.

End of the Game

When the last card is taken from the Draw Pile, keep playing until all players can no longer play. Since there are no more cards to draw, if someone scores a Ringer, they must still roll the die and play a card of any color or number from their hand to start the new Play Pile. If the card played to start the new Play Pile matches the die, that does not count as a Ringer.

After every player has taken their last turn, count the cards you have collected by scoring Ringers. Each card counts as 1 point toward your score. For each card you still have in your hand, because you could not play it, subtract 1 point from your score.

The player with the highest score wins!